Bastwell
Blackburn with Darwen 004 · 4 sub-areas · 8,249 residents
Blackburn with Darwen 004 is a residential neighbourhood within Blackburn with Darwen, home to around 8,250 people. A typical two-bedroom flat lets for about £655 a month — well under half the UK median for a two-bed — and rents rose around 7% last year. Nearly two-thirds of residents own their home, giving the area a noticeably more settled feel than the UK average.
Bastwell is a green, lower-density part of Blackburn with Darwen — parks within walking distance of most addresses, a slower weekday rhythm, and a population skewed toward longer-tenure households rather than transient renters. The demographic profile leans family-aged, with a clear share of households with school-age children.
Overview
What's it like to live in Bastwell?
4 parks and 7 playgrounds are within five minutes' walk, so greenspace is reliably close at hand; The streets feel safe by national standards — police-recorded crime is well below the country-wide median; Public transport is genuinely strong; most errands and a fair share of social life don't need a car; rents are below the national norm, with a typical home letting at around £707 a month; gigabit broadband is effectively universal.
Generated from the latest May 2026 data · refreshed automatically
Figures are aggregated across 4 sub-areas — population-weighted means for rates, sums for counts. Sources cited beneath each section.
Bastwell in Blackburn with Darwen
Living in Bastwell
This part of Blackburn with Darwen is overwhelmingly owner-occupied and family-oriented. Around two-thirds of households own their home, and over a third are couples with children — figures that point to a neighbourhood where people put down roots rather than pass through. Greenspace is genuinely accessible: the nearest is under 250 metres from a typical address, and almost three-quarters of residents are within easy walking distance of open space.
On cost, this neighbourhood is at the affordable end of an already affordable borough. A two-bedroom home runs around £655 a month, and a three-bed is only about £773 — figures that make most London and Manchester rents look like a different world. The median house price is roughly £159,000, and a typical local earns enough to save a deposit in under three years. Council tax (Band D) comes to about £2,455 a year, which is in line with similar northern boroughs.
Almost three in ten residents are under 18 — an unusually high share — which tells you something about the family character of the area. Young professionals make up a smaller slice here than in city-centre neighbourhoods, and single-person households account for fewer than one in five homes. The degree-qualified share sits at around one in four residents, close to the national average.
Getting around depends almost entirely on a car: over 61% of residents drive to work, and just 2.3% use public transport. The nearest mainline rail station is roughly 1.3 km away — about a 16-minute walk — and the public transport journey to Manchester city centre takes around 64 minutes. There's no metro or tram service within practical reach. For day-to-day practicality, a car is close to essential here. See the streets and sub-areas below for more.
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Frequently asked
- Is Blackburn with Darwen 004 a nice place to live?
- It depends on your priorities. If you want affordable family housing with good greenspace access and a settled, owner-occupied community, it works well. The trade-off is limited public transport, below-average school quality in catchment, and real economic deprivation — the neighbourhood sits in the second-lowest IMD decile nationally. A car is close to essential.
- What is the rent in Blackburn with Darwen 004?
- A one-bedroom lets for around £529 a month, a two-bed for about £655, and a three-bed for roughly £773. These are estimates scaled from borough-level data using local sale prices. Rents rose around 7% in the past year, but the area remains very affordable compared to UK averages.
- Is Blackburn with Darwen 004 safe?
- The crime rate is around 54.5 incidents per 1,000 residents a year — well below the UK national figure of roughly 80 per 1,000. That's a positive signal, though the neighbourhood scores in the second-lowest deprivation decile nationally, so it's worth visiting and assessing specific streets rather than relying on averages alone.
- What's the commute from Blackburn with Darwen 004 to Manchester?
- By public transport, it takes around 64 minutes to Manchester. The nearest mainline rail station is about 1.3 km away — roughly a 16-minute walk. Most residents drive rather than use public transport, with over 61% commuting by car and only 2.3% using buses or trains.
- Who lives in Blackburn with Darwen 004?
- Mostly families with children — over a third of households are couples with kids, and nearly 30% of residents are under 18. Two-thirds own their home, suggesting long-term, settled residents. Single-person households are relatively rare at under 18%, and around one in four residents holds a degree-level qualification.
- What schools are near Blackburn with Darwen 004?
- There are 111 schools within 2 km of a typical address, so there's no shortage of options. Around 52% are rated Good or Outstanding — below the national share of roughly 89% — so quality is mixed. The nearest Outstanding-rated school is about 1.2 km away. Checking individual Ofsted reports is strongly recommended.
- How affordable is buying a home in Blackburn with Darwen 004?
- Very affordable by UK standards. The median house price is around £159,000, and a typical local salary supports saving a deposit in under three years. That's a much faster path to ownership than most of England, particularly compared to southern cities where deposit timelines stretch to a decade or more.